Miami’s fortunes have turned around in the past 12 months. The uncertainty of last year’s war-dominated market has given way to optimism among the players in Miami’s commercial production and postproduction arena.
"It’s an incredibly busy year [so far]," says Massimo Martinotti, president/director of Mia Films/The Mia Network, which is headquartered in Miami. "We have been shooting from the end of last year through the beginning of this year. From the beginning of this year, every single week has been very, very busy. The economy is back on track."
"Business right now is terrific," agrees Bob Corti, VP/general manager at Manhattan Transfer-Miami. "Last year in April and May, with the war going on, business was hurt. But it recovered nicely with a very strong fourth quarter."
Many also point to the international exchange rate as a factor in helping business. "The good news is the Euro has gotten stronger, so our international business is picking up again," reports Libby Moyer, VP/sales and marketing at Continental Film & Video Lab, Miami (the post facility also has an office in Orlando). "Europeans are coming back to New York and Los Angeles, and they come to Miami as a location."
"It’s been a really strong commercial season," concurs Jeff Peel, director of the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Office of Film & Entertainment. "Commercials are on the rise—that’s partly due to the economy, partly to the strong Euro. A lot of our production comes from Europe at this time of year; it’s quite a bit less expensive for them because the Euro is so strong [against the dollar]. I think that’s brought some of that business back."
Peel notes that in 2003, commercial production in Dade County came in at about $39 million, up from ’02, which was at $34.2 million. In ’01, spot production totaled $37 million; in ’00, the figure was about $35 million. He also says business from Latin American countries has fallen off, mostly because the economies in those countries have not yet rebounded. "They probably [represent] about ten percent [of the production work] at this point, although in years past we’ve done as much as fifty percent of our work out of Latin America," Peel says. "[Now], fifty to sixty percent is mostly national. There are not an awful lot of regional headquarters in South Florida, so for anybody doing any sizable commercial production, it tends to be national."
Martinotti says that the bulk of Mia Films’ production work has come from Los Angeles, with the company doing some work for agencies in New York and Miami. Mia recently shot two soon-to-air Volkswagen spots in Miami; as well as four Verizon spots in Los Angeles, followed by a Chrysler commercial. The company was also in Mexico, helming several projects for the Mexican market. Other recent credits include Verizon’s "Postcards," directed by Martinotti via La Agencia de Orci & Asociados, Los Angeles; and Toyota 4Runner’s "Bridge," directed by Louis Pascal Couvelaire, out of Conil, a division of Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Torrance, Calif.
Peliculas Ponder, Miami, works almost exclusively on Spanish language spots. According to Lynn Ponder, executive producer at the five-year-old company, the production shop has an eclectic international approach. Two recent Herbal Essences spots out of Leo Burnett Mexico for airing in Latin American countries—"Dreams" and "Liso"—were shot in Mexico with French director Jean Louis and a Brazilian cast.
As for the U.S. Hispanic market, the company lensed a series of Lincoln-Mercury spots for Zubi Advertising, Coral Gables, Fla. The package, titled "Vignettes," was directed by mono-monikered Manel, and was shot in three Texas cities (Houston, Brownsville and South Padre Island), Los Angeles and Miami. The job took a month and a half, and posted in Miami at JefCo Creative Editorial, with color correction at Cineworks, also in Miami. "Ten percent of my work is shot in Miami," says Ponder, who admits that that is a "pretty low" figure. She attributes that to a number of factors, including cost-savings in foreign locales and the particulars of a spot.
Incentives
To counter a slow-down in filming, the city film office is working hard to promote the virtues of the Sunshine State in general, and Miami in particular. Peel hopes that the third time will be the charm on one incentive that has been passed two years running by the state legislature, but died because of lack of funding.
This year, however, Florida’s Gov. Jeb Bush has allotted $3 million in funding for incentives aimed at attracting out-of-state productions. According to Peel, the legislature has already amended that to $6 million and, if the legislation survives intact, the incentive program will begin in July. The plan offers producers who spend more than $850,000 in the state on Florida labor and other qualifying expenses 15 percent of their production costs back, up to $2 million. In terms of spots, only the most expensive commercials could take advantage of this. "Once you’ve reached that threshold and depending on how much you spend, you get a check back from the state," Peel says. "For feature films, you can get as much as two million dollars, for commercials, it’s substantially less than that, but still [can be a] significant amount of money, in the one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand dollar range."
Beyond that, Peel says that a two-year-old tax incentive—production-related equipment is tax-free when filming in Florida—has done much to encourage work in the state. "Both [measures] make Florida, on the incentive front, a very competitive place to shoot," he relates. "We’re always engaged in one type of marketing or another on the commercial front."
In addition, Peel is looking forward to the Clio Awards, which will be held this May in Miami. The Clios are sponsoring a local contest in one of Miami’s magnet high schools to create an advertising campaign to promote the state. The winner will be showcased at the Clio Awards ceremony, and Peel predicts that the event will offer Miami high-profile exposure.
Online Marketing
An Internet shorts program unveiled late last year to promote Florida has also seen much success. The project, called "Outside the Box" (a.k.a. "Florida Shorts"), is a joint production between the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Office of Film & Entertainment; the Florida chapter of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), of which Martinotti is president; the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (GMCVB); Film Florida; and Mia. The producers of the Internet package had hoped that the short films would entice agencies and directors to the Sunshine State by highlighting the crew, facilities, talent and locations of Florida.
Taking its inspiration from "The Hire"—the Internet-based short films for BMW created by Fallon, Minneapolis—"Florida Shorts," which includes three films, Conference Call, Back to One and Revisions, uses the longer format to poke fun at the production process. Martinotti came up with the concepts, directed and produced the project through Mia Next, a division of Mia that launched last year for the sole purpose of producing branded content.
"We started thinking about the possibility of doing something different in order to reach our target, which is basically advertising agencies and production companies in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America," explains Martinotti. "Our target is composed of people who spend most of their working day online. We thought that perhaps humor would be a good way of [approaching them]."
Peel reports that the site hosting the short films received "thousands and thousands of hits, and since it was targeted directly to art directors and production houses worldwide, we think that most of those hits came from our target market. We had six thousand hits in the first month, and in excess of ten to fifteen thousand hits [to date]," he adds.
"Florida Shorts" was so successful, in fact, that the Florida Keys, Palm Beach and St. Petersburg film offices have all expressed interest in participating in another round of short films, slated to begin shooting in late April. "[These films have] gotten us the kind of attention that has warranted the continuing interest of these other jurisdictions to pony up their funds to make additional short movies for the Internet," Peel remarks. "It is an innovative way to market a shooting location."
Looking Forward
For the future, many see diversification as crucial. Martinotti says that his company Mia Next is working on another project—a Web-based sitcom for a client—and is also near completion of a script for a movie to be shot in November about a love story during the Costa Rican civil war in ’48.
"I believe that branded product is coming, and that clients are just starting to think of putting their brand into entertainment or information or education in another kind of media—that’s why we created Mia Next," Martinotti states. "We have offices in several countries, and that makes us very effective in terms of production. A branded content operation has to be informational, and we are very well positioned for that. As TV commercial producers, we have wide experience in taking care of a brand. We also have good experience in projects with complex technologies."
Corti says Manhattan Transfer-Miami has added a creative editorial division so the client can follow the project from offline through online at the same house. "Creative editorial has become the stronger lead for our business," he notes. "Five years ago, I would say that a lot of our business came to visual effects. The leading edge today has become the creative editors and the creative editorial process, so having them here with us is really a way to offer up more complete service."
Even the nearly 40-year-old Continental Film & Video Lab is feeling the winds of diversification. According to Moyer, the company’s owners spent 14 months exploring business models for bringing in high-definition equipment, although nothing has been announced yet.
Most are optimistic about the future. "My forecast is that this trend will continue," says Martinotti. "For the next few years, we will have strong growth in production for local and national markets, as well as the European markets. The Spanish-speaking market—including the U.S., Latin America and Spain—is growing fast. There are many opportunities."
